Air Force medical reservists from Charleston heading to Florida

A team from the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Joint Base Charleston deployed to McDill Air Force Base in Florida Wednesday to assist with the continuing efforts to evacuate medical patients from hurricane-ravaged areas in the Caribbean.

The storms keep coming, and the beaches can't catch up.

A twister pulled back part of the roof of the control tower at Joint Base Charleston. Another knocked a home off its pilings on Johns Island.

Even though the South Carolina coast was 200 miles or more from the eye of Tropical Storm Irma, the state's beaches and barrier islands did not escape her wrath.

FOLLY BEACH — Erosion from storms Irma and Matthew has claimed much of the sand from a $30 million beach renourishment project completed three years ago, Mayor Tim Goodwin said.

Chris John didn't ask for the iconic Folly Boat to drift into his backyard and destroy his dock. But it did.

And he doesn't want to keep it.

But who exactly in the community wants to take it back? And who ultimately will decide?

Frustrated West Ashley residents who have experienced repeated flood damage to their homes pressed U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg and other elected officials for answers Friday morning.

JOHNS ISLAND - Irma’s fury was pouring into the elderly woman’s car at an alarming rate.

EDISTO BEACH — After touring the damage left behind by Tropical Storm Irma, Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday he was glad he had ordered an evacuation for this barrier island.

Far inland from Tropical Storm Irma's surging waves that drew intrepid TV news crews Monday, homeowners in low-lying areas near wetlands and tidal creeks watched the water rise around their homes for at least the third time in as many years.

Tropical Storm Irma did its damage but likely won't rank among the worst storms to smack South Carolina in recent years. Here's a comparison with storms past.

Fleets of pleasure boats were not cast adrift from floating docks by Tropical Storm Irma, as many were during Hurricane Hugo, but some Charleston-area marinas suffered damage from the storm Monday.

Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor remains filled with 3 feet of water from Tropical Storm Irma's rains and tidal surge, the National Park Service said Tuesday afternoon.

Though drinking water quality never suffered during Hurricane Irma’s floods Monday, water utilities dealt with the usual stress of a hurricane’s aftermath Tuesday as they returned to business-as-usual and asked for the public’s help in small ways moving forward.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Most roads that were too flooded to drive on Monday were back to normal in this coastal town Tuesday, but the storm surge from Irma left some properties with flood damage and fallen tree limbs.

Irma claimed the lives of at least four people in South Carolina, state and local officials confirmed Tuesday.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Robyn Berry swung into the passenger seat of a Ford F-150 Lariat bound for Daytona, Fla.

Deputies say someone broke into a West Ashley pawnshop and stole $2,000 worth of jewelry while the Lowcountry dealt with the impacts of Tropical Storm Irma.

EDISTO BEACH — It took Mayor Jane Darby most of Tuesday morning to see how her small island community fared during Tropical Storm Irma, and she was pleased to learn the worst part was that Palmetto Boulevard, the main drag, was covered by a few feet of sand.

Did a tornado spawned by Irma touch down Monday? That's one question, among many others, meteorologists and survey teams are looking to answer as they visit sites damaged by the storm.

Gov. Henry McMaster said Tuesday that he considered the potential economic impacts of an evacuation when he chose not to order residents to leave downtown Charleston before Tropical Storm Irma surged into the Holy City.

FOLLY BEACH — Erosion from the Irma storm surge is worse than Hurricane Matthew, and officials worry that more could be on the way because of Hurricane Jose.

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster lifted mandatory evacuation of eight barrier islands in three counties on Tuesday threatened by storm surge in Tropical Storm Irma.

The city of Charleston deployed three portable drainage pumps Tuesday morning to the most flooded areas downtown, and at least two of them were expected to pump out water well into the night and possibly longer.

Now that Hurricane Irma — downgraded to a tropical storm by the time the system reached the Lowcountry on Monday — has dissipated, the sun made a welcome return Tuesday, looking ahead to mostly sunny rest of the week.

By early Tuesday, Tropical Storm Irma was scheduled to make its way into Alabama and weaken further. By the afternoon, its storm status likely could be revoked. Merely a tropical depression, its track puts the next stop as western Tennessee.

As Irma dies away, hurricane worries don't go with it. Jose is circling around out there and just might come calling. Forecasters are watching a storm in the far Atlantic and by next week could be watching two more.

College of Charleston classes won’t resume until Thursday, as the school assesses the damage Tropical Storm Irma brought to its campus.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Wind and rain was whistling through the trees surrounding the Holiday Inn Express on Grands Avenue, but the mix of people in the waiting room regarded the hotel — and the Charleston area — as a refuge Monday morning.

Trees dropped and power lines went down. Bursts of rain fell thick as fog. Wind whipped swirls of water off the roads. The side slap of Irma punished the lower South Carolina coast while leaving the northern coast largely unscathed.

COLUMBIA — As Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters Monday afternoon "there's still a lot of danger out there" with Tropical Storm Irma, crews were cleaning up damage from a large oak tree that crashed into an apartment building that he owns in the city.

Communities in Berkeley and Dorchester counties are reporting some flooding and other issues related to Tropical Storm Irma.

Of all the boats Hurricane Hugo ripped from their moorings almost three decades ago, none inspired passion like the one on the Folly Beach causeway did.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, 89 people had found shelter from the storm in a pair of Red Cross-operated county buildings near the Al Cannon Detention Center on Leeds Avenue in North Charleston.

Power went out at about 1 p.m at Folly Beach, and the road to the beach was shut because of flooding.

MOUNT PLEASANT — Power outages, falling trees and street flooding took a heavy toll on the town.